Singh urges customs to form ASEAN Lane

Singh urges customs to form ASEAN Lane

JAKARTA (JP): Secretary-General of ASEAN Adjit Singh has urged
the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to
synchronize their customs procedures to create a smoother and
faster movement of goods.

Singh said yesterday in his opening remarks at a two-day
meeting of ASEAN's director generals of customs in Malang, East
Java, that the establishment of such procedures at various
customs entry points in the region would allow goods to be
handled on a priority basis and cleared quickly.

Singh called the procedure the ASEAN Lane for Common Effective
Preferential Tariffs (CEPT) products.

"It will be a big boon for our ASEAN exporters and importers,"
he said.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.

The Malang meeting was the second held by the director
generals, following the first held in Bali last January which
looked into the harmonization of tariff nomenclature, customs
valuation and customs procedures to support the CEPT scheme for
the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).

The proposals, if recommended by the Malang meeting, will be
put forward at the ASEAN summit meeting slated to take place in
Bangkok in December, Singh said, adding that the adoption of the
proposals will clearly demonstrate the seriousness of ASEAN in
implementing the agreement on AFTA.

Intra-ASEAN trade for products covered by the CEPT increased
by 43 percent from US$84.2 billion in 1993 to $91.5 billion in
1994.

The rising volume of trade, coupled with the rapid growth of
ASEAN industries and the increasingly diversified structure of
exports, will require greater response from customs
administrations to facilitate the flow of goods, Singh said.

The Malang meeting is also being attended by observers from
Vietnam, which will become an ASEAN member on July 28. (kod)